Worries about near term outlook for the economy and profit taking dragged down stock prices and pushed the benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty down last week. Dilution worries following the regulator's mandate that requires Public Sector Undertakings and private promoters to cut down stakes in order to raise pubic shareholding limit to 10% and 25%, respectively, in PSU and private companies, too contributed to the market's fall during the week.

Recording losses on all five sessions, the BSE benchmark Sensex ended down by around 296 points or 1.5% at 19,485, its lowest close in over five weeks. The broader 50-stock Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange declined 95 points or 1.6% to 5,903, its lowest close in more than 6 weeks.

Midcap and smallcap stocks tumbled as well. While the BSE Midcap index ended lower by a little over 3%, the Smallcap barometer lost around 3.7%.

On Thursday, the government lowered India's growth estimate to 5%, the lowest in a decade and significantly lower than the growth rate of 6.2% in 2011-12. The government cited continued weakness in manufacturing and farm output growth, as reasons for the downward revision.

After opening on a firm note, the market faltered and ended with modest losses on Monday, with investors mostly staying on the sidelines amid worries about the economy. Weak European markets and a decilne in base metal prices too contributed to the subdued trend on the Indian bourses. While the Sensex lost 30 points, the Nifty ended 11.65 points down on that session.

The market opened lower on Tuesday on weak global cues. The Sensex ended the day with a loss of 91 points and the Nifty settled with a loss of around 30 points.

The Indian stock market opened on a firm note on Wednesday on positive global cues, but retreated soon and then slipped into the red as the session progressed, as investors turned wary of building up positions.

The Sensex ended 20 pooints down on that session, while the Nifty managed to eke out a small gain of 2.30 points.

The Sensex saw more weak spells in the last two days of the week, losing 59 points and 96 points, respectively on Thursday and Friday. The Nifty too closed lower.

Reliance Industries ended more than 3% down. ITC lost around 2.5%. Cipla lost almost 8%, despite the company posting a 25.5% rise in net profit for the October - December quarter.

Hindaco ended lower by over 3%, on weak results. The company said its net profit declined 3.7% in the October - December 2012 quarter.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries moved up by nearly 3.5%. On Friday (8 February), the pharma major reported a near 32% jump in net profit at Rs 881.30 crore for the quarter ended 31 December 2013.

NTPC declined by over 5.%. The offer for sale in NTPC received good response from investors. The government sold 9.5% stake in the company through stock exchanges mechanism last Thursday. Sterlite Industries, ONGC and Tata Power were among the other major losers in the Sensex last week.